Progressives around the world celebrated this weekend as Ireland voted 62 per cent in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage. This win is significant and important for a country that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993 and has long been dominated by the misogynist, homophobic Catholic Church.

The vote signaled, to many, a shift towards a more progressive cultural, social, and political landscape.

When Audrey Gauthier was elected president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 4041, representing Air Transat flight attendants, on November 1 she had a sense something special might have happened. Gauthier is openly transsexual, and she knew that there weren’t many other openly trans-people holding positions of power in the labour movement.

"I am the only one in Canada?" she wondered. Gauthier went to National Pink Triangle Committee, CUPE’s LGBTT rights group, and asked them to find out. They got back to her -- not only is she the first openly transsexual president of a union local in Canada, she is the second in the world.

Don't

Sexual liberation was a core principle of the social movements of the 1960s. The desire to emancipate desire was central to the belief that a new society and a new experience could be created. The United States' LGBTQ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans/queer) movements are often described as having begun with the Stonewall Revolt in Greenwich Village in New York City. The rebellion consisted of hundreds of gays resisting a police raid over the course of three days. In The Power of Identity, the sociologist Manuel Castells notes that there were 50 organizations for sexual minorities throughout the U.S.

If you are a heterosexual, chances are you have never really given much thought to the daily public displays of affection that we make with our girlfriends or boyfriends, husbands or wives, all the time.

You very likely kiss your partner hello or goodbye in basically any context without any hesitation, hold hands while strolling down the street, stare into each others eyes and touch romantically while lying on that blanket in the park, and put arms around each other at the movies or in a restaurant while waiting for your food to come.

You never worry about what neighbourhood, venue or restaurant you are doing this in, thinking that some might not be accepting of it, because all are. You don't worry if children or "families" are around.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. -- Matthew 7:15 - 20